Incomplete Old World Changes

[RedFenix]

(I posted this on the main Blizz forums and I wanted to post it here because I just wondered what your thoughts were.)



From what I've observed from many sources, the majority of the old world zones are getting a major revamp in both aesthetics (minus the look and textures of the trees *sadface*) and quest content/continuity. Blizz saw the need to do this to bring the questing experience up to par with Wrath questing. I totally agree with doing this and praise them for it. The continuity of the quests (making sure the quests are relevant to the current "cata" events of the world) is very important as well.

What I don't get is why some zones have received little to NO changes. From last I heard, here is a list of zones that this applies to:



1) Azuremyst 2) Bloodmyst 3) Eversong 4) Ghostlands 5) Dustwallow 6) Silithus 7) Arathi



So here we have seven zones that have been barely touched, if not even touched at all. Little to no quest content changes or aesthetic changes, as well as almost no continuity changes...

So... is this currently okay or acceptable with Blizzard? Okay so... here is a scenario...



1) You make a Draenei character in their 1-20 zones (technically "Vanilla" time line). Lulz being several years later and they are still "Oh noes! We are still crashed!"

2) You quest through some zones in Kalimdor ("Cataclysm" time line)

3) You get to Dustwallow (Back to "Vanilla" time line)

4) Keep questing through Kalimdor (Back to "Cata" time line)

5) Then you either finish your questing on 1-60 Azeroth in Silithus ("Vanilla" time line) or Blasted Lands ("Cata" time line)

6) Then you go to Outlands ("BC" time line)

7) Continue to Northrend ("Wrath" time line)

8) Then you get to the 80-85 zones back in Azeroth (Back to "Cata" time line)


Now mind you, I can get past the Outland and Northrend stuff if they have something like.... the Bronze Dragonflight approaching you when you achieve level 58 and saying they need your help to make sure the events in the BC and Wrath content go as they are supposed to because agents of the Infinite Dragonflight are trying to change them (add only a handful of quests involving them).

I just wonder why not finish the old world stuff? Why even bother giving the new intro cinematics to the Blood Elves and Draenei if their starting zones don't reflect what is being narrated?



Is it because:

1) Blizz is getting to "crunch" time with the new expansion and is kind of like "Well... we did as much as we could... New players are going to get confused but oh well" OR

2) "We aren't motivated enough to do those zones" aka lazy OR

3) "We are still planning to do some changes to these areas." (Like hello? Silithus? So much could be done here to relate to the more "active" Twilight's Hammer and the aftermath to the events with the battle of Med'an and Cho'gall, possibly explaining how he got to the Twilight Highlands).


I love your game Blizz but... what the heck is going on? Do you NOT want players to quest in these incomplete zones?

[JohnnyTKF]

They don't give a shit about Arathi/Silithus/Dustwallow... And I guess that since Draenei/BE is BC content, they'll omit that too. Same for Outlands/Northrend and it's a damn shame.

[zingbat]

to be honest... with the exception of a few zones, and a few things in a few other zones... there is a lot that remained unchanged... just tweaked.

I spent a lot of yesterday just flying around like a lost soul for fun... and I have to say, there aren't as many changes as I thought there were... however, what has changed is amazing... is it enough? I don't know.. guess everyone will feel something different..

all i got to say

**SPOILER**

ORG IS FUCKING AWESOMESAUCE

[Titus-Barca]

I was wondering about that as well. Maybe the portal to outlands is also a time machine.

And the boats / zeppelins to Northrend are really time-boats and time-zeppelins!

OT: They've updated the questing zones for all races except the blood elves and draenei, they've stated that that was their intention i believe!

Also, since the game hasn't been released, we should all wait and see (for one thing, i thought dustwallow marsh had indeed been updated, with the *SPOILER* destruction / sacking of that ogre town.)

[RedFenix]

And the boats / zeppelins to Northrend are really time-boats and time-zeppelins!

OT: They've updated the questing zones for all races except the blood elves and draenei, they've stated that that was their intention i believe!

Also, since the game hasn't been released, we should all wait and see (for one thing, i thought dustwallow marsh had indeed been updated, with the *SPOILER* destruction / sacking of that ogre town.)

Why would not updating those zones be their intention?


Aesthetic changes weren't the only things I mentioned. Some people are conveniently forgetting that. Continuity changes were the most important in my book. The most minimal thing they could do is update the quest text. And even that is only doing HALF the job... The Draenei shouldn't still be living in huts and still building the SAME huts that they were building when they first crashed.

" The Sunwell is restored and is now a fount of Holy Energy but... LONG LIVE PRINCE KAEL'THAS!!"

You see? Doesn't make sense. Why even change the cinematic intros (if you didn't know, they did indeed do this) if you do NOTHING with the actual questing there? They are being frickin retarded if they are constantly making you time travel for NO reason as you are questing. All this is going to do is frustrate both new and old players. Did Blizz say WHY this was their intent?

[vilepickle]

1) Azuremyst 2) Bloodmyst 3) Eversong 4) Ghostlands 5) Dustwallow 6) Silithus 7) Arathi

Most of these zones have had a number of changes since the launch of the original game so they probably don't feel the need to spend more time on them.

IE. 1, 2, 3, 4 did not even exist in Vanilla. Dustwallow got some upgrades with the Ony revamp if I recall. Silithus was totally revamped in Vanilla itself from its original pathetic state. Arathi is the only one that stands out to me as not having anything done to it.

Overall, it's most likely a time constraint and almost all of these zones have things that are more current than the ones that have been sitting there forever.

[Gravlax]

It is rather a shame that they don't get you to travel to Outlands and Wrath zones through cavens of time...

[Overlord-Kromgar]

And the boats / zeppelins to Northrend are really time-boats and time-zeppelins!

OT: They've updated the questing zones for all races except the blood elves and draenei, they've stated that that was their intention i believe!

Also, since the game hasn't been released, we should all wait and see (for one thing, i thought dustwallow marsh had indeed been updated, with the *SPOILER* destruction / sacking of that ogre town.)

Is it the southern or northern ogre town

[ezkaos]

Aside the lack of quest updates, the lack of flight being added to the TBC starting zones is appalling.

[pateuvasiliu]

And the boats / zeppelins to Northrend are really time-boats and

Saurfang likes the Lost TV series,he almost finished filming

[JohnnyTKF]

to be honest... with the exception of a few zones, and a few things in a few other zones... there is a lot that remained unchanged... just tweaked.

I spent a lot of yesterday just flying around like a lost soul for fun... and I have to say, there aren't as many changes as I thought there were... however, what has changed is amazing... is it enough? I don't know.. guess everyone will feel something different..

all i got to say

**SPOILER**

ORG IS FUCKING AWESOMESAUCE

Lol, that isn't a spoiler anymore. And I admit Org and SW (<3) are both awesome now. But... the QUESTS changed a lot, except for those zones. And that Tauren guy on the official forums saying "Oh but Arathi and Dustwallow had some changes"... No shit, Sherlock, but the zone is still bad.

[RedFenix]

1) Azuremyst 2) Bloodmyst 3) Eversong 4) Ghostlands 5) Dustwallow 6) Silithus 7) Arathi

Most of these zones have had a number of changes since the launch of the original game so they probably don't feel the need to spend more time on them.

IE. 1, 2, 3, 4 did not even exist in Vanilla. Dustwallow got some upgrades with the Ony revamp if I recall. Silithus was totally revamped in Vanilla itself from its original pathetic state. Arathi is the only one that stands out to me as not having anything done to it.

Overall, it's most likely a time constraint and almost all of these zones have things that are more current than the ones that have been sitting there forever.

None of these zones are current. Dustwallow and Silithus were updated JUST to not make them pathetic places to level. As for the time lines of all of these zones, they are all still in the "Vanilla" time line. The Draenei and BE zones were added in BC, but in terms of questing, they are still in the "Vanilla" time line. Even if they are considered BC content, it would just be lazy of them to NOT change the quests texts. Why even give the BE's and Draenei new intros? It doesn't make sense.

[Soulless Cynic]

I guess we should also receive a visit from a representative of the Bronze Dragonflight every time we kill the Lich King? Because surely we're traveling through time to be able to kill him on a weekly basis for 8+ months.

OR MAYBE...

It's game mechanics, and you're expected to use some common sense.

As for the BC starter zones being untouched: The entire point of the Cataclysm was to revamp the vanilla zones to bring them up to BC/LK's level of quality, improve quest flow and make them more engaging to new players. As Azuremyst, Bloodmyst, Eversong and Ghostlands were released in BC, they are already BC/LK quality and do not require an immediate revamp.

[RedFenix]

I guess we should also receive a visit from a representative of the Bronze Dragonflight every time we kill the Lich King? Because surely we're traveling through time to be able to kill him on a weekly basis for 8+ months.

OR MAYBE...

It's game mechanics, and you're expected to use some common sense.

As for the BC starter zones being untouched: The entire point of the Cataclysm was to revamp the vanilla zones to bring them up to BC/LK's level of quality, improve quest flow and make them more engaging to new players. As Azuremyst, Bloodmyst, Eversong and Ghostlands were released in BC, they are already BC/LK quality and do not require an immediate revamp.

The game mechanics for raids and instances are much different from questing. Once you've done a quest, it is DONE. You can't do that quest again on that character unless it is a daily. Your point is debunked.

And what do you say for new players that want to roll and Draenei or BE? Should they just use "common sense" when they are constantly time traveling while they are questing? Yes the Draenei and BE questing is better than old Vanilla starting areas, but the continuity of those quests is now being ignored. These races are getting new intro's with quests that don't back them up. It is laziness and it needs to be changed. Period. If they have to push back the 4.0.3 patch even further in order to fix this, I am totally fine with that.

[Arcangel14]

Who says silithus/arathi doesnt get new quests?
and since when is dustwallow back to vanilla timeline?

[Ihnasir]

Good thing I don't already quest in those zones with my leveling strategy

[bestmage]

only bummed cuz silithus doesnt get a cool revamp

[Soulless Cynic]

The game mechanics for raids and instances are much different from questing. Once you've done a quest, it is DONE. You can't do that quest again on that character unless it is a daily. Your point is debunked.

Questing is no different. You can quest all the way to 80 (or 85 come Cata), then go back and do quests in zones you didn't quest in while getting to max level. I guess that's time travel too? Is this the part where I say your point is debunked, like it somehow adds validity to my argument and invalidates yours?

We've been on the same major content patch (3.3) for 10 months. I'd rather they work on zones that need the work and get this expansion done than worry some new player needs their hand held in order to add two and two together.

[JohnnyTKF]

And the boats / zeppelins to Northrend are really time-boats and time-zeppelins!

OT: They've updated the questing zones for all races except the blood elves and draenei, they've stated that that was their intention i believe!

Also, since the game hasn't been released, we should all wait and see (for one thing, i thought dustwallow marsh had indeed been updated, with the *SPOILER* destruction / sacking of that ogre town.)

No, we shouldn't wait dude/lady. Look, the areas are confirmed as ready, a BLUE (Valnoth) said that Silithus wouldn't change anymore (It hasn't changed -.-) and the only quest text changes I found were breadcrumbs and maaaybe a quest or 2 removed... Seriously, it's bad... Really bad.

---------- Post added 2010-10-03 at 08:14 PM ----------

Who says silithus/arathi doesnt get new quests?
and since when is dustwallow back to vanilla timeline?

I do. Go ahead, search "55-60 Content missing" in the Cataclysm quest discussion or general discussion forums. There, Silithus has 0 (!) new quests, and it'll stay that way, and Arathi had PATHETIC quest text changes... Blizzard are being lazy, really, this builds were just number passes, why couldn't they change the damn quest text? That cannot be hard...

[Oweena]

Since when has mudsprocket been in since vanilla?